More Parking Restrictions To Come
With the parking restrictions now introduced around the Hamptons, we’ve learned that the Department For Transport is now considering a blanket ban on pavement parking across England and Wales as one of the options to tackle this issue.
Nowhere is this a greater problem than in Tydemans (see panoramic photo below), and the historical issues have often been linked to overflow parking from Hamptons, when the car park is full.
This issue is made worse by a poor road design and narrow pavements, which do not run the length of Tydemans on both sides of the road.
Pavement parking creates inherent dangers for all pedestrians; being forced onto the carriageway and into the flow of traffic. This is particularly difficult for people with sight or mobility impairments, and those with prams or buggies. Pavement parking also further restricts the narrow road width in Tydemans, making emergency vehicle access difficult.
It’s a complicated problem because the responsibility for dealing with pavement parking problems is split between Chelmsford City Council and Essex Police.
Unnecessary obstruction of the highway (Essex POLICE).
The offence of unnecessary obstruction of the highway, which includes the road as well as the pavement, already exists and has not been decriminalised. There are existing statutes and regulations which allow proceedings to be brought by the police under criminal law for situations where parking on the pavement, in such a way as to cause obstruction, is deemed to be avoidable. These include:
section 137 of the Highways Act 1980, as amended; for wilfully obstructing the free passage along a highway
regulation 103 of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 as amended; for causing or permitting a motor vehicle or trailer to stand on a road so as to cause any unnecessary obstruction of the road.
But try getting Essex Police to attend !
Parking enforcement Policies (Chelmsford City Council)
Taken from the CCC website, full page here.
The council will only enforce if there are parking restrictions already in force on the road in question. This includes vehicles parked:
across a driveway (unless it prevents access to a private property)
on a footway (pavement)
on a grass verge
Currently there are no parking restrictions or Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO) that apply toTydemans,
If there are no parking restrictions, but the vehicle is causing an obstruction, you should report it to Essex Police online or by calling 101 (good luck with that).
The council has no obligation to act if the vehicle is parked illegally on private land.
South East Essex Parking Partnership.
There is currently a live application for a TRO (Traffic Regulation Order) in Tydemans, which has been postponed due to the pandemic. We believe the safest option are double yellow lines (both sides) along the whole length of Tydemans, excluding any formally designated and marked parking bays. It’s vital that the free flow of traffic and emergency vehicle access is not impaired or obstructed, as it has been in the past.
This should be considered by the SEPP committee once the pandemic restrictions are lifted. We’d like to thank Cllr Young for her support and expertise in this issue. If granted it would pass the bulk of the responsibility for managing pavement parking in Tydemans back to the council.
If you have any suggestions, concerns or additional points you’d like raised at the SEPP meeting, you can contact Cllr Young here.
The best solution
The government’s proposed blanket ban on pavement parking would solve this issue with one stroke of the pen, with the legal responsibility for enforcement and management passing to the council. This could happen within the next 6 weeks.
It’s likely the scheme would be self financing and could feature a single stage appeals procedure by an independent adjudicator (and avoid costly court actions).